A daredevil gran is fulfilling a life-long dream - to do a 10,000ft parachute jump.

Margaret Leggett, 59, from Fairfield, Stockton, has always loved to live life dangerously, and for years has longed for the thrill of jumping out of a plane.

Her resolve was strengthened when her daughter, Debbie Wilson, did a charity parachute jump in memory of her late friend, cancer victim, Caroline Jeffels last year.

Now Margaret's four children, Debbie, Andrew, Victoria and Graham, have clubbed together to buy their mum a birthday present she will never forget.

She will jump in tandem with Andrew at the Peterlee Parachute Centre next Saturday .

But pursuing her lifelong ambition wasn't easy - because of her age, Margaret had problems getting a doctor's signature allowing her to do the jump.

She said: "I've always wanted to do a parachute jump but my own doctor wouldn't consent because it's their policy not to sign for them. I had to pay for a proper aviation medical, and everything was fine in the end."

Margaret, who works as a medical lab secretary at the University Hospital of North Tees, said she believed age should not be a barrier to doing what you want.

"People younger than me who I work with say 'you'd never catch me doing that' - there isn't really an age limit, you can jump when you're 80 but I personally wanted to do it now.

Tom Ainslie, from the Peterlee Parachute Centre, said: "Someone doing a jump at 59 is quite unusual - we get a lot of students and the odd person who does it for their 40th or 50th birthday. The oldest person to do a jump here is a 78 year-old - he's done two jumps in the last year.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience for most, something they never forget."